by Emily Gresh, Dancer, 1989–1998

In spelling out the 40-year history of Boston Ballet, in naming the names, in checking the dates, times, and places, one thing has become clear to me,although Boston Ballet began as the dream of one woman, E. Virginia Williams, in the late 1950s, today it is the dream of many. It is the dream of a night spent seated beside a first date who is now beloved wife and mother, of the child who now takes his children, of the former dancer who now looks back, of the young dancer who watches and dreams of belonging. Within each individual, within me, there are many, many memories, and there is quiet thanks. There is a deep gratitude for discovering that dance, so often described as ephemeral, is not so. Dance is eternal. Those moments, images, and feelings created through live performance reside forever within each one of us.

As I pause to watch the curtain rise on the 40th season, I can look back while looking ahead. While searching Boston Ballet's past, I have found that as interesting as it is to reach back to those moments of the past, it is even more compelling to turn around and touch the present where the past shimmers anew, sensed as much as seen. In searching for a defining moment that stands as a perfect representation of Boston Ballet's past, present, and future, I have found that there is not one moment but many, and not many, but all.   These moments will embed themselves within the palpable heart and soul of dance just as past moments are embedded within each dancer, each director, each choreographer, each audience member, each musician, each teacher, each student, and me.  The stories of dance and humankind continue on,entwined.

Dance is rooted in the origins of humankind,in the communal urge to express and understand the experienced, as well as the imagined, through movement. Ballet's beginnings are not so far from yesterday, yet, Boston Ballet, in the relatively short span of 40 years, has claimed a distinguished place in that history.

In 1921, E. Virginia Williams, Boston Ballet's founder, was introduced to ballet at the age of seven. The Company Williams eventually formed and nurtured became the embodiment of her belief in both the art form and its artists. Williams chose to focus on the success of Boston Ballet rather than her own dance career. As a result of her selflessness, Boston Ballet grew to reflect not only the unrelenting determination of a notoriously driven woman, but also the unyielding power of a dynamic art form. Under Williams, Boston Ballet attracted many individuals, who devoted their lives to the creation of an ever-changing yet brilliantly cohesive dance company.
 

In the 20th Century, George Balanchine revolutionized ballet with choreography that allowed ballet and its intimate relationship with music to be seen with unprecedented clarity.   It was Balanchine who, along with W. McNeil Lowry, the director of Arts and Humanities for the Ford Foundation, recommended that E. Virginia Williams receive the first $144,000 Ford Foundation grant. The artistic affirmation conferred by this prestigious grant led the New England Civic Ballet Company to formally state its professional aims and officially take the name of Boston Ballet, a name that has become permanently associated with the highest standards of artistic integrity. Other companies to receive Ford Foundation grants that year included San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Washington Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet.

On January 25, 1965, Boston Ballet made its official debut. The Company performed Balanchine's Apollo and Scotch Symphony, Anton Dolin's staging of Pas de Quatre, and a modern work by Norman Walker at the John Hancock Hall. Over time, the venue changed from the John Hancock Hall to the Back Bay Theater, to the Orpheum, to the opera house on Washington Street, to the National Theater, and, finally, to the Music Hall, now known as The Wang Theater. For the first performance, Hugo Fiorato, then associate conductor of New York City Ballet, stood before a full orchestra. As the curtain rose, George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirsten were seated in the house. This debut performance was described by The Boston Globe as "a good beginning to a promising venture of ballet in Boston." Similarly, The Boston Herald claimed that the performance represented "not only present achievement but also a future of real promise." This was a night when many commitments were fulfilled,promises between artist and art, dancer and dance, audience and performer.

Another luminary associated with Boston Ballet was Arthur Fiedler, who conducted the first two performances of the Company's The Nutcracker on December 19, 1965. Maria Tallchief was a beautiful Sugarplum Fairy according to several reviews, among them The Boston Globe's.  Fiedler may not have imagined that those two performances would eventually grow to 50 or that Boston Ballet would present its own internationally famous Sugarplum Fairies,Laura Young, Elaine Bauer, Deirdre Myles, Jennifer Gelfand, and Sarah Lamb, to name just a few. Today, Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker is a magical and enduring part of Boston's annual holiday festivities.

Boston Ballet easily earned the devotion of local audiences and, in a short time, the Company won the respect of the international community as well. Violette Verdy, a beautiful, blonde French ballerina affiliated with both American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet can be credited with developing Boston Ballet's international stature. Verdy came to Boston Ballet in 1968 for her first American performance to dance the title role of Giselle with Edward Villella. Although she had not danced the role in ten years, a phone call from Williams had drawn her to Boston. Clive Barnes headlined his New York Times review of her performance, "Dance: Timeless 'Giselle' in Boston," alluding to the sense of perpetuity captured that night by Boston Ballet on March 22, 1968. In the early 1980s, Verdy became the Company's associate artistic director; during the 1983 and 1984 seasons, she served as the artistic director. Verdy was an integral part of Boston Ballet's early tours throughout the United States, Mexico, Italy, France, and England. And it was Verdy who facilitated Boston Ballet's introduction to Rudolf Nureyev.

Boston Ballet's relationship with Rudolf Nureyev started in the fall of 1980 when he performed with the Company in Pierre LaCotte's version of La Sylphide at the Uris Theatre on Broadway after the Company returned from a world tour.  The tour took the Company to China, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, and France. Long-time Boston Ballet members Devon Carney, Arthur Leeth, Paul Plesh, and Sharon Story danced in the corps de ballet throughout the world tour, presenting more than 52 performances in 12 weeks. From the back row of the corps de ballet to the experiences of the principal dancers-Durine Alinova, Laura Young, Elaine Bauer, Anamarie Sarazin, Donn Edwards, Nicolas Pacana, Augustus Van Heerden, and Bruce Wells, coming of age with the Company meant being involved in experiences that were both inherently unifying and exceedingly private. Each individual dancer experienced the bonding inherent in touring large scale productions in foreign countries and savored the unique reactions of the varied audiences in his or her own way, bringing new depth to their combined artistry.

Boston Ballet premiered Rudolf Nureyev's production of Don Quixote in March of 1982. The production was toured in the southern United States and Mexico during the spring of that year, Italy and France in the summer, and Detroit and Los Angeles in the fall. This is the production that will be restored in celebration of the 40th anniversary year. Catapulting the Company into a new realm when it premiered, this production further raised the Company's standards.  Where critic Jack Anderson's praise for La Sylphide had been mixed, he wrote that Nureyev's Don Quixote ". . . was well worth applauding," noting that the performance revealed a "delight" and "esprit de corps" throughout the ranks of the Company's dancers. This season, Nureyev's staging will once again reveal the depth of talent within the ranks of Boston Ballet's dancers.

Artistic creation has always been a hallmark of Boston Ballet, and many individuals have passed through the Company's studio doors and backstage entrances. Bruce Wells,former New York City Ballet soloist, former Boston Ballet principal dancer, and resident choreographer,became interim artistic director following Verdy in 1984. While Williams' passing was greatly mourned during this period of time, Bruce Wells, Violette Verdy, Rudolf Nureyev, and many others took careful steps along the way, steps that enabled Boston Ballet to flourish.

Bruce Marks became artistic director in 1990 and his Soviet staging of Swan Lake,a new staging of an old classic,was a resounding affirmation of the continuity of both ballet and Boston Ballet. While Nina Ananiashvili and Fernando Bujones were warming-up on May 2, Marks was sitting in the audience along with Anna-Marie Holmes, Russian ballerina Natalia Dudinskya, and her husband Konstantin Segeyev. The four, all having spent most of their lives on stage, all having danced the roles they were about to see danced, were seated next to one another,yet in their hearts, all four were on stage with the dancers. D. David Brown, a long-time Boston Ballet dancer and a graduate of Butler University who took on the role of executive director, was there too. This opening was the beginning of the end of a season that began with the unstoppable passion of Romeo and Juliet. The season was coming to a close with the eternal love of Swan Lake's Odette and Siegfried. There were 18 performances of Swan Lake in 1990.  In 1965, the entire season had consisted of fewer than 25 performances. 

During 1990, Boston Ballet II, the second Company of young dancers, appeared at numerous schools, offering lectures, demonstrations, and performances as part of Boston Ballet's outreach programs. That same year, the Company made its premiere at the Kennedy Center in ballets ranging from Raymonda, staged by Fernando Bujones after Marius Petipa, to Maurice Bejart's powerful Rite of Spring.  Marks was making seemingly light work of the difficult job of managing the Company. He celebrated the great balletic works of Tchaikovsky,Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, along with four new ballets to the music of Tchaikovsky,in a single season. At the same time, he took Boston Ballet to a return engagement at the Kennedy Center.

As Swan Lake was about to begin in 1990, Marks was expectantly watching the house lights fade to black, confident in what the night would illuminate. That evening, the orchestra of 50 professional musicians and conductor Jonathan McPhee were as prepared as the dancers waiting in the wings. McPhee had already conducted for New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, and Royal Ballet, among others. He finished nodding to the audience and turned to look upon Boston's best musicians, some members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. He raised his baton and time stood still.   The importance of this gathering of artists, the importance of drawing collective attention towards an art form that is inherently collective, a combination of so many elements,music, images, motion, costumes, lighting, sets,was felt in this pause. Swan Lake, which had been only politely applauded when it premiered in 1877 with choreography by Julius Reisunger, was about to move deeply and convincingly into the present having already succeeded in becoming one of the great classical ballets in history. Anna Kisselgoff's New York Times review of Swan Lake was as impressive as it was historic. The 1990 production was, in her eyes, ". . . a huge risk . . . a fabulous production and a major success."

In 1993, Jack Anderson of The New York Times named Anna-Marie Holmes' staging of Sleeping Beauty the "big surprise" of 1993. The Company had also successfully completed a four-city tour of Spain during which Giselle was performed in magnificent settings,ancient, Roman ruins and castle-like places. Jack Anderson acknowledged the international talents of Patrick Armand and Trinidad Sevillano as Prince Desire and Princess Aurora. Other critics praised the incredible physicality of Adriana Suarez in the Bluebird Pas de Deux, and the unusual delicacy underscored by dramatic tension within the young Larissa Ponomarenko as Princess Aurora. The production of Sleeping Beauty was a demonstration of Anna-Marie Holmes' dedication to Russian tradition and pure classicism.

By 1994, a decade after E. Virginia Williams' death, Boston Ballet's contributions to the history of ballet grew increasingly significant. The Company was hosting such contemporary cutting-edge choreographers as Twyla Tharp and Merce Cunningham. New ballets were created in Boston Ballet's state-of-the-art dance facility, which opened in 1991, a five-story building designed by renowned architect Graham Gund. The works of Agnes de Mille and Jiri Kylian had been showcased on stage repeatedly.   Over time, more and more risks were taken,and both dancers and audiences enjoyed the new perspectives. Mark Morris, Susan Marshall, Ralph Lemon, Paul Taylor, Elisa Monte, Jiri Kylian, Bill T. Jones, William Forsythe, Michael Pink, Michael Corder, Stanton Welch, and Christopher Wheeldon were all "risks," emerging artists supported by Boston Ballet, who were gradually taking their place in the history of dance.

 In May of 2001, Anna-Marie Holmes' acclaimed production of Sleeping Beauty capped her brief tenure as artistic director. Jonathan McPhee then led the Company during the transition until the appointment of Mikko Nissinen in 2001. During this time, and throughout Boston Ballet's history, the leadership and excellence so clearly on display during performances could be found quietly in the wings. In the hearts and minds of those who truly dedicate their lives to supporting the Company,through both the best and worst of times,Boston Ballet is both beautiful and essential.

 . . .

The ascent of Mikko Nissinen in the dance world is as breathtaking as that of Boston Ballet. When Boston Ballet was entering its 16th year with a world tour, Mikko Nissinen was entering his 17th, premiering as the lead in The Kirov Ballet's Nutcracker. At 18, Mikko Nissinen decided that someday he wanted to be an artistic director.  Nissinen's past includes Finnish National Ballet, The Kirov, Dutch National Ballet, Basel Ballet in Switzerland, and ten years as a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet.  In the fall of 2002, Nissinen was invited to Stanford University to participate in an intense seminar for an exclusive group of carefully selected arts leaders. That September, Valerie Wilder, fellow Canadian dance associate and former Artistic Associate of National Ballet of Canada, took the helm as the new Executive Director of Boston Ballet.

…

Mikko Nissinen is walking from The Wang Theater to his home in the South End. Perhaps he is thinking about next season. Perhaps he is reflecting upon the events of the day. Most likely, he is making plans just as he did at the age of 18 when he decided to become a great dancer and then a great artistic director. Having presented a season of works that included a daring world premiere, Sharp Side of Dark by Jorma Elo, as well as works by the renowned choreographers William Forsythe and Mark Morris along with Frederic Ashton's charming staging of La Fille mal gardée, and having put in place a 40th season that honors the past in many ways while looking to the future with new work by Val Caniparoli, there is no doubt about this moment. This is a moment for Nissinen, at 41, and for Boston Ballet, at 40, to savor...now and evermore.